China's long and winding new Silk Road

Beijing

FOR centuries, the Silk Road which linked Asia to Europe carried Chinese goods and civilisation to the rest of the world. The concept has now been given a second life and for the past year what has now been dubbed as the "One Belt, One Road" policy is on every Chinese official's lips. Last month, Hong Kong's chief executive mentioned the programme no less than 30 times in his annual address.

But while the new policy is celebrated at home, analysts say the new Silk Road - which is, in fact, an umbrella policy tool encompassing President Xi Jinping's global vision for China inside and outside its boundaries - will be hard to implement and faces many hurdles.